Cambodia Ayana Journeys
We craft ethical, educational travel experiences, with the belief that travel can enrich the lives of individuals, communities, and the world.
‘Ayana’ comes from Pali, an ancient Buddhist language from which modern Khmer finds its roots. The most direct translation of ‘Ayana’ is ‘the path to enlightenment’, but we take it to mean ‘learning journey’ or ‘journey of discovery’ – both of the world, and for the enrichment of the self.
All our tours have an element of learning, with a philosophy that travel is as much about learning from new cultures and places, as it is about a life-long learning experience for personal development.
Our mission
- Provide ethical, engaging, and creative travel experiences that facilitate genuine cross-cultural connection and learning opportunities, inspiring compassion towards fellow human beings.
- Utilise responsible travel to promote and support grass-roots community projects and benefit host communities.
- Endeavour to be a responsible tourism role model and collaborate with others to innovate and inspire ethical travel best practices.
Our mission is to contribute to a more peaceful world.
We do this by carefully crafting exceptional travel experiences that prioritise new insights through experiential learning; fostering a deeper sense of empathy; widening understanding of global issues; and reflecting on our potential as members of an international community.
The longer version
It is no secret that the travel industry has the capacity to be incredibly destructive, with many documented cases of the ways in which tourism can harm ecosystems and chip away at cultures and traditions. Thankfully there is a growing awareness around these issues, and both travellers and tour operators are paying more and more attention to the ways in which tourism can – and should – be socially and environmentally responsible. Increasing emphasis is being placed on tourism as a means of poverty alleviation, for example, and there is ever-growing interest in eco-friendly travel options.
We are a VERY excited about this, and wholeheartedly agree that the joy of travel should never come at the expense of the people and places hosting globe-trotters or holiday-makers.
But we don’t think this is enough. In fact, it was recently reported that despite the tourism boom in Siem Reap, millions of tourist dollars fail to benefit most local people.
When done with care and consideration, tourism has an extraordinary ability to not only benefit host communities, but also play an integral role in making the world a better, more peaceful place.
Many of the awful things that happen in our world come from a desire to assert control over others, a confusion between ‘different’ and ‘wrong’, or a combination of the two. We believe that respect and empathy are crucial to combatting these causes of much global unhappiness, and that the best way to achieve these is through immersive, hand-crafted, and open-minded travel.
So we reject the conventional model of ‘observing’ new places and cultures, which ultimately encourages us to feel distanced from them. Instead we craft engaging, ethical learning journeys that support open-minded travellers keen to develop an appreciation for other cultures, learn about different ways of life, explore international issues, deepen their own sense of empathy, and reflect on themselves as global citizens.
